


Seeking my worth

by Elizabeth_Alexander_Mondragon



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, M/M, Misery, Self-Discovery, battles, selfhate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-23 07:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30051762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elizabeth_Alexander_Mondragon/pseuds/Elizabeth_Alexander_Mondragon
Summary: This is a fanfic I am creating with my friend, since he/she does not have an acount yet.We are figuring out how to work together in this pandemic times. there is not a specific date when we will publish another chapter.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Thalia Grace
Kudos: 1





	Seeking my worth

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfic I am creating with my friend, since he/she does not have an acount yet.  
> We are figuring out how to work together in this pandemic times. there is not a specific date when we will publish another chapter.

**(Narrator POV)**

It all started in the unfamous Paradise city, where there's doom and destruction in every 

corner but no one is sober enough to care about it. On the most forgotten corner of this city of mayhem, it has been said there was a rotten bar. The rats procreated there and even the lowest scum did not dare to go there. On the outside it seemed like the putrid wooden door would fall if you even breath at it . The inside was not better in any form, the counter was barely standing and it made the illusion that it may not even be there, the bottles on the shelves looked like dead man piss and the better smells you could smelt was puke from two days ago. If we talked about the people who usually came, you would find yourself looking at the saddest and broken bunch of unemployed drunks, iracundos mischiefs and the occasional drug addict fainted on the floor. 

The saddest part was that the bartender, he was in need of money desperately but without anything or anyone in his life, he resorted to work there for a miserable salary. It was either this or being used like a broken doll and I mean everyone knows that starving to death is a more honorable option than that. He was a young boy, neither rich or poor, but tragedy was his fate and as soon as his fifth birthday came around he was abandoned on the corner of this locality. The customers usually looked at his enormous black eyes and felt a shivery feeling through their entire body noticing they only transmitted death and darkness. He was skinny and pale, the ghost king was his nickname, a mocking one since not even the lowest scum dared to help him, from job to job he did what was necessary to survive, from the most hideous jobs to the ones that crossed the line of morality or sane judgment.

However he wasn't alone in this broken and unruling place, he had a friend who believed in him even in the darkest times, after the dumbest decisions. His name was Percy and he was another orphan but he was kidnapped when he was young and stayed there since his father did not even care enough to look after him. It is quite curious how some events had turned out, because even if you can say that the situation of these two persons is very similar, their character was not. Percy, always found a way to achieve more, to create more and it didn't came as a surprise to anyone when he joined the military as a soldier, but somehow he was able to wield divine bronce, so he was selected to be part of the special militia that protected the city form the monsters outside the gates. There he met his actual girlfriend, a princess from another country who was part of the council of the great rules of all of the cities.

It seemed to Nico that after Percy ascended on the social ladder, he would become less interested in the little corner of the world that Nico inhabited. He had already embraced this possibility and was actually happy for his friend. Percy did not like to admit that things had changed, so he tried to push up Nico to better opportunities, this annoyed the other one to the core, who was comfortably numb and perfectly broken beyond repair. Nico had decided to spent his live where he thought he belonged, in the filth that no one cared to even look at it, where living another day was a miracle and a torture at the same time.

That particular day he was enjoying a smoke sitted on the counter, with no expectations whatsoever. At the beginning of his shift, at the local you could only spot a couple of regular clients, who needed their morning boost to start another day on a rutinary and somewhat miserable life. They were only in their best and only pair of rags and anyone could smell the hideous scent they despreded, Nico was accustomed so he only puke a little in his mouth, the usual. He assumed it would be another day worth of nothing until Percy kicked off the door, literally , he kicked the door and the pieces went flying all over the place, he was that kind of guy, ruthless, and one piece in particular ended on the forehead of Jo, a garbage man who usually visited the local. It was a normal Wednesday, Nico thought to himself while Percy shouted his name and ran to the counter. 

(Nico POV)

-“Dude, I had just finished putting the pieces back in their place that you freaking caveman have just broken”-. I said angrily. 

-“Bro, if you farted besides that door it would crumble!, so chill out!. I came here with good news and this is how you received me? I feel the love. You still need to pay that debt you had with the bacchus clan?” Percy responded, annoyed that Nico always cared more about the door than his situation. It came naturally to me, to judge the unwisely and reckless conducts of Percy, however I knew the guy and cared for him, we´ve been through thick and thin together. The mention of the bacchus clan was troubling, he clearly knew about my debt, and that meant that he´ll try to pay it and that was annoying, yet charming of him. 

-“Percy, you know me, I will pay my fees to the clan by the end of the month. You know I can manage by myself, if my boss doesn't charge me the door, but no biggie, you know, you really are my best friend”-. And only friends too. 

-“I know, I know but dude I have a job that could help you get out of this… place and be in the nicer part of the city or hell we could get out of the anus of this city. You have to admit all around here is shit and literal shit! If you manage to do this job you would be rewarded as handsomely as me!” Percy was yelling at me but whispered the last part since robbers were the only customers here.

I hate when he starts talking about anuses, it´s like if the people of that part of town where..well nothing but dispensable ugly criminals. And money is not something that drives me , with that said I have to stop the childish gibberish, and start to do something about my debt or elsewhere accept the constant threats of the gang.

-“Ok bro, I am listening. What's the deal?”-. I said with the feeling that nothing good could happen after this. 

-“ Listen well my little brother, we need someone to deliver a package to Athenas in her city, Athens. We need someone who could survive almost anything and you are the perfect candidate, you have a blade to defend against monsters and humans together and you survive in a place that rats don't even want to shit in. The pay is in gold coins with the possibility of more but to travel to Athens you would need to pass the Hunters Fort since the package needs to be checked by Artemis, the ruler of the hunters, and since you have claimed to be gay you would meet her without being castrated” Percy explaned me with such seriousness, somehing he was not known for.

\- “What do you mean by claim? Are you trying to hit on me? Do you want to try this pale face?”-. I said as I got near to Percy, then he quickly distance himself from me and I laughed of the little confidence that heterosexual men had, wondering what does he really felt about how I am. This thought almost distracted him from the real issue, going to Athens with a package, my brain started to ask some questions: what kind of package? Why me? Is my sexuality enough to have a free pass from Amazonia and the hunters? From all these particularly interesting questions I only managed to elaborate one.

-“How many gold coins ?”- I said measuring if the risk and my life can be bought. 

-“Around two or three, possibly four or five. hundred that is the minimum price I believe but the dangers are equal to the price” Percy was telling me with a gesture in which I could read that he knew that he got me, and I thought for a second all the things that I could do with that serious bucks, paying my doubts, having a regular job and a normal life, and….and then what... but that seemed so far fetched that I couldn't even dream about that. However, that probably meant that it wasn´t a simple easy-going job, and that led me to my next question. 

-“Why me, Percy? Is it some kind of suicidal mission or suddenly the militia has become a nice charity for underdogs” I said seriously concerned about the outcome. I was not stupid enough to believe that suddenly a live saving situation had popped out of the thin air, most likely this was something engenired to bring some underdogs out of the city so they could die without bodies being related to the city, o beautiful corruption that seeks peace out of blood. 

Percy sighted, -“Nobody wants to do this since it involves the man hating troops of Artemis, but is not suicidal if you don't look, breath or touch anything there.” He responded uncertain of how I would react. 

-“I am sure that there is more than one woman in the army who would be pleased to earn the extra cash, or even the merit of such a great mission. If you are looking for me, I assume that you are out of options, and this means there is dirt, if the army isn't involved on an army's mission it is because they don't want to take responsibility if something goes wrong. With that said, the last time I checked we were close friends, so I do not think you want to endanger me, so let me ask again, why do you think I am the guy for the job ?”-. At this time I was seriously questioning his motivations, was it possible that the bureaucracy had finally taken his friend into its rows, or was he just giving me a nice opportunity. Either way it was risky and Percy was a naive guy, who tends to think the best of people, even low-life´s like myself or his ruthless superiors.

Percy was sweating profusely, he was delivering if he needed to tell me the whole truth or simply the small briefing he had received from his superior.

-“Because you are small and perceptive, smarter than you think. You also have ‘that’ but the important thing is that is something only you can do, the package is important and it needs to be delivered by someone who hasn't a direct relationship with this rotten government. If I could, I would accompany you, but I can´t. The intel we have is that someone of the Hunters will accompany you to Athens.” Percy was on guard, keeping an eye on the customers as if this information was a secret.

-“If we don't do this, we are almost at war with Athens!” Percy whispered to my ear loudly. 

Things were getting a bit more clear, frightening, but clear. If I accepted, I would be on the merge of some weird political trama, getting involved with people that I didn't care about, and by doing it, I would put my friend's name on the line. That last thing, worried me the most, I am not conscious of the terrible dangers I am going to face, but I know they are going to push me over the edge, and instead of walking away from it, I am worrying about the future of a friend that has it all together. Well, if I am being completely honest I was in, at the moment he said that there were a couple hundreds of golden coins at stake or more. I really need to get out of this shit hole, and I don't have many things or anything to lose (and I am considering my own life). 

I nodded to Percy signifying that I had accepted his deal, maybe I needed to think over this a little more but screw it, good deals did not come barging in often, or never in my case. Percy was overjoyed and handed me a black backpack. 

-“This is going to help you in your journey but you need to stay alert, there are rations and a map so you can't get lost. Remember to take ‘that’ with you and godspeed!” Percy cheered me on with sad eyes, was it possible I would not return alive to claim the money or I was gonna get paid in Athens?, who knows.

Percy gave me a pat on the back and left running like a hurricane,most likely he was skipping his guarding duties to come and informed me.I was left with the feeling I was going to puke, I wasn't ready to start at that exact moment, what would I do with my job. I mean people usually give a week notice, and my boss wasn't nowhere to be found. As I was thinking about these things I noticed that Percy mentioned that I was meeting with someone on my way, however he didn't mention where or how I would know she wasn't an impostor. I ran through the big chops of wood that were surrounding what used to be the door and screamed 

-“Percy!”- I felt somewhat ridiculous running and screaming in the middle of the street, luckily I caught his attention, and he stopped, when I finally got to the spot in which he was he told me. 

-“ Bro, chill out!, what do you need? I can give you more than I already have. I know you will miss me but I can't accompany you, maybe next time. but what can I do for you neeks?” Percy responded with his signature grin, in another time maybe I could have developed a crush on him but he was not my type. I was panting and trying to catch my breath, he was running faster and my legs were shorter than his. When I had finally regained my breath I asked him.

-“Who am I meeting there? Who is the hunter that is going to accompany me to Athens and how would I recognise her? you did not give me this critical information moron!” I was almost making a scene in the middle of the street. He gave me a piece of paper discreetly and with his gaze told me this needed to be kept as a secret at all cost. The information about any hunter was regarded as secrecy since Artemis will kill anyone who had an eye in any of her hunters. 

So it turned out that in this “mission” even papers would get me killed. I mean I was starting to become an international spy, but well without the clothing or cool gadgets. I waved at Percy who was to focused on his running to pay attention.And slowly returned to the bar, he then started a conversation with Ray one of the usual drunks: 

-”Hey man, please tell Peter, I need to get some vacations, I have a family emergency and I have to leave for some time.”. I was uncertain of how much information I was supposed to give, but I thought that was vague enough for the situation. 

He looked at me, with a crooked smile showing some of the yellow teeth that had been through better times, and nodded at me, with a lot of energy. To this day I am not certain if he understood what I was telling him, or if he was already too drunk to care. However I think it was the fair thing to do, cause even if it was a terrible job, in which I had to regularly clean the content of the stomach of my customers from the floor, it was all I had for a long time, and certainly it wasn't as bad as the things I was about to face. 

Back on the street I started walking, I stopped in front of what at one time was a yellow building, currently it seemed a bit more brownish after the years without maintenance had changed the original color. I opened the door with my key and slowly walked through the stairs until I got to the fifth floor, my apartment if you can call it that, it was a single room with a bed that you could lift into the closet, to get some more space for the little stove and ice box that occupied the rest of the room. I put some clothes on a bag, deodorant, soap and a bottle of water, and strapped on my belt my trusty sword. I closed the door and began my journey. 

I was walking through the streets wondering how long my journey would take me, and when I would reach the Huntress fortress it was not easy to find, if so they would have been attacked constantly, since they had gained many enemies through time or that was what the people gossip about them. I was confused on how such a small yet important package would be the trigger for a war between Dionisus and Athena, they did not even trade or came in contact in any form. I hated how messy things were, a journey through no man’s field. It was very well known that even the best struggle to survive out there, bandits were as common as rats in the filth, monsters always were lurking,in the night of the day they would come to devour you. It was going to be peachy!. 

I was observing that no one followed me to the gates since poor people were always the prey for opportunist, robbers, when they had something like a bag, just my luck that it was the day the guards were actually doing their work and robbing people of some coins if they wanted some proteccion. This part of the city was always like that, you either die from a wound made by a gang member or become a working slave to pay the proteccion fees of the guards.

It seemed safe, at least for now, the trick to pass through the guards was simple, you simply have to act like a person who is authorized to enter and leave the city. You may assume that this can only be pulled off if you can pretend to be rich, but that is foolish, a person dressed like me, didn't look like someone who comes from money. That is where my assets came in handy. I know what lies are believable and I know how to present them in order to get what I want without being notorious. Not every person that crossed the gates were rich, actually a lot of farmers and low level soldiers were more common. 

The guardians were sober, so the task was a little more difficult, as I got closer to the main gate I got closed to a group of what I assumed were farmers, they had a big truck full of vegetables, when the guard, a short man with a big moustache that reminded me of Chaplin, came near the group, he assumed I was part of the party of farmers and let me out. I haven't pulled out the trick, in order to get to no man's land I knew I would have to get into the truck. 

As the gates were closing I quickly climbed on the back of the truck, and for a second, I believed I was spotted by the short guard, but if that was the case he must have been lazy because he ignored me. I was finally out of Paradise City. Or that's what I thought until I heard a guard shouting. -“Stop that truck, he is not authorized to go out of the city!” I looked and saw it was Gabe, the guard that was bought by the bacchus clan and apparently I was not very liked by him, maybe it had to do with that time when he was pissing me off so much that I actually gave him piss rather than bear. In my defense he was being very rude, to a young girl who wasn´t clearly interested in him .

The truck halted and the farmers were looking at me scrutinizingly, I was hopping out of the truck when the first arrow landed between my legs. 

-“You ,scum need to return to the city or we will use lethal force!” Had I told you how much I hate Gabe?. I was forced to flee from the city since the guards could not send a search party for someone as insignificant as me, who knew being a nobody was good for scaping?. It was darkening, the sun was setting and suddenly we could hear some howls. From the darkness some creatures emerged, they were bigger than the dogs I knew. They were pitch black, their fangs were longer and sharper than a kitchen knife and their claws were longer too, the guards were forced to retreat and protect the gates. I was scared, these dogs were monsters and I had never seen one. One of them was sniffing the air and suddenly he noticed me, his bloody red eyes piercing me as if I was something curious. By instinct I unsheath my swords and that made the dog flich, as if he had seen something cruel or something, I took my chance and started walking backwards slowly, my gaze never leaving the pitch black dog. 

He stood still, and I noticed that was my opportunity to escape with my life. I looked around me and realized that there was a big rock behind me, I moved slowly expecting the dog´s attack, it remained still as I took the rock I had a crazy idea, I reminded a time in which I was living on a park near a station and I saw a couple of kids with their families playing with a dog they were throwing a ball at it. Gods know what spirit got the best of me, but I felt like throwing the rock, not at the beast, but one that could fetch it, I was really surprised when he did, but I didn't have the time to celebrate, I started running and quickly and started to climb over a tree. That seemed like a good place to sleep, I mean the night couldn't last forever, and thinking about that, it seems like his trick had worked, there were no signs that the terrible creatures were aiming for me but the guards were their new enemies.

After a couple of minutes in which I took a couple of sips of water and rested, I heard a terrible squeal, it seemed like the dog was sad, but I couldn't figure why. There was something really weird happening and I never heard about a sensible beast, just flesh eating dark beast as hell dogs. 

It was late since the moon was rising, I decided to rest safely on top of the tree. It would be uncomfortable as hell but at least I was safe from monsters. I shut my eyes and decided to call the day of. 

(Stranger POV)

I had just arrived in Paradise city when I saw how a small boy fled and searched for a safe haven on the top of the tree, “Boys, always are cowards” I thought to myself while I admired the inefficiency of the guards protecting the gates. I saw the backpack he was wearing, it matched the description I was given. The hell hounds were busy fighting the guards to notice me, and I decided to mess a little with the boy on top of the tree.

-“Fire!, the tree is on fire!”I shouted to the boy and he woke up and rolled out of the tree, falling with a big scream. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. 

-“I assume you are the delivery boy, I’m Thalia your guide to the fort and then to Athens, is my displeasure to meet you.”


End file.
